we ain't strangers anymore
by jellybean96
Summary: Grant reunites unexpectedly with someone from his past. Someone he thought he'd never see again. *Part 6 of the 'Life's A Roller Coaster' series*


**Hey babes! Back again with a new story for ya in the** _Life's A Roller Coaster_ **universe. This one's pretty great because we get to meet a new character that I'm very excited about introducing. :)**

 **Enjoy!**

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Glancing at the time on his phone again, Grant sighs and leans against the wall next to him with his shoulder. He looks down at the dog at his feet, smiling a little as the Shepherd shifts his body on the concrete below.

"Should have known your mom would take forever in there, huh?" he speaks with a quiet laugh. "Maybe we should have gone inside with her. At least then we could gauge how much longer she'd take." He stands back up straight and leans his head against the wall, breathing out and letting his shoulder relax as he continues to wait for Skye to finish shopping.

If they were at the grocery store, he'd probably go with her, but seeing as it's a much smaller shop with not a lot of room in it, he chose to remain outside. He still isn't a fan of being in small spaces with people.

He smiles and nods politely at a few familiar faces passing by, not quite feeling up to a full conversation, but not wanting to be rude.

"Grant? Is that you?"

Lifting his head off the wall and looking over his shoulder, Grant's breath catches in his throat at the sight of the raven-haired woman standing down the sidewalk, a few shopping bags on her shoulder and a cell phone in her hand.

"Rose?"

"Oh my goodness." The woman rushes toward him and pulls him down into a tight hug, one of her hands cradling the back of his head. He immediately stiffens at the contact. "How in the hell?" She pulls out of the hug and looks him straight in the eyes, her own dark eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I thought—I honestly never thought I'd see you again. It's been so long."

"I know. I uh, um…"

Rose's brows furrow. "Grant? Are you okay?"

He takes a small step back, his hand immediately reaching down to Max. "I'm sorry. I just…I…" He closes his eyes tightly, his hand curling in Max's fur. His chest begins to tighten as his breathing gets heavier.

A familiar heat joins him a few seconds later and he immediately recognizes his wife standing next to him, her hands on him to help try and ground him.

He opens his eyes to look at her and he knows she recognizes the pleading look in his eyes.

"Grant, listen to me, okay? Just focus on me, focus on my voice. You're going to be okay."

He nods slowly and swallows thickly, his other senses slowly starting to come back to him as he focuses on his wife's voice in his ear and her hands on his body.

"Are you good?" she asks him carefully. "Or do you need another minute?"

He shakes his head. "No. I'm good."

"Okay." There's a slight pause and then he hears her voice again. "Who the hell are you and what did you do to my husband?"

He manages to get his eyes open in time to see Rose's eyes go wide.

"Whoa. Wait. You're married?!"

He sighs, one arm automatically sliding around Skye's waist to help keep him grounded. "Skye, I'd like for you to meet Rose, my older sister. Rosie, this is Skye, my wife."

"Wait, this is your sister?"

He nods, finally having composed himself. "Yeah. We haven't seen each other in a very, very long time, though. Not since I was a teenager."

"Wow. Damn. Uh, I guess that makes you my sister-in-law, then."

Rose nods. "I guess so. How long exactly have you two been married?"

"Um, about six months, I think." He looks over at Skye. "Right?"

Skye tilts her head as she thinks. "Yeah, cause the twins are about seven months, so that sounds right."

"And you have kids?"

He nods. "Twins. A boy and a girl."

"Wow. You definitely seem to be doing pretty well for yourself, Grant. I'm proud of you." She smiles softly.

"Thanks. I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to have something like I do now, to be honest."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I went through a pretty dark time. A few of them, actually. But Skye was there for me through the latest one." He smiles over at his wife. "And thankfully she decided to stick around for a little bit longer."

Skye laughs and leans into him. "Babe, we both know you're stuck with me forever."

"Yeah, I know." He drops a kiss to the top of her head and turns back toward his sister. "What are you doing here?" he asks, trying to be as casual as possible.

"I live here, actually. For the last twenty-five years or so. With my husband and my son. They're out of town right now so I'm taking some me time."

Grant's face lights in a smile. "I'm an uncle?"

She smiles and nods. "Yeah. His name is Matthew, he's ten."

"Wow. I'd love to meet him once they get back."

"I'm sure he'd love to have an Uncle. Eric, my husband, doesn't have any siblings and obviously Christian isn't the most ideal Uncle, and Thomas is off doing who knows what so I never see him."

He nods. "Yeah, right."

"And I'd love to meet your kids too," she tells him. "Someday soon, hopefully. If you don't hate me for leaving, of course."

"I could never hate you, Rosie. I understand why you left when you did. I wish I'd gotten away. But then maybe I never would have met Skye, or had my kids. And they're the three best things to ever happen to me."

She smiles softly. "I'm glad to hear that."

"And hey, if you're not busy, do you want to come and meet the kids now? We were just about to head home."

"Um, if it's okay with your wife."

Skye gives her a small smile. "It's fine with me, I trust Grant."

"Great, my car's this way." She gestures over her shoulder. "I'll follow you?"

"I'll come with you and show you how to get there," Grant suggests instead. "Babe, do you wanna go ahead and make sure the twins are good before we get there?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great." He leans down to give her a quick kiss. "I'll see you in a bit. Max, let's go." He gestures with his head and the dog walks right beside him down the sidewalk to Rose's car.

.

.

.

"Jenny?"

"Skye, hey." The teen smiles at her from her place on the couch, Adian and Ava lying on a blanket in the living room, different toys scattered around them. "You are in luck because the twins just woke up from their nap."

Skye smiles over at her babies. "Good. Let's just hope they won't be super cranky."

"They've been pretty good so far," Jenny tells her.

"That's good. Thanks so much for watching them."

"You know I don't mind. And I think I'm starting to get the hang of taking care of them at the same time."

"Please tell me your secrets, then, because after six months I still have no clue what I'm doing," she says with a small laugh.

Jenny laughs back. "Once I figure it all out I'll be sure to let you know."

"Good. I don't have any cash on me right now so can I pay you double next time?"

Jenny nods. "Of course. I know you're good for it. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see you."

Moving further inside the house, she kneels down in front of her kids and tickles both of their little tummy's, making the kids giggle. "Hey, guys," she says with a smile. "Did you miss momma?"

She carefully picks Adian off the floor and presses a kiss to his cheek, settling him against her. Ava immediately begins fussing, kicking her feet with a deep frown.

"What's the matter, Ava-loo? Somebody wants attention too, huh? Well, daddy will be home soon so I'm sure he'll give you all the attention that you want. And he's bringing somebody special with him too," she says, looking back and forth between her children. "I think you'll like her. I like her already, and I've only had a brief conversation with her. Maybe it's because I know she never did wrong by your dad, she just wanted to get away from their awful family. But you two don't ever have to worry about that, do you? You've got a pretty good family behind you."

"They most certainly do."

She smiles over her shoulder at her husband, laughing quietly when Adian and Ava both get excited at the sight of their dad stepping into the living room.

"I saw Jenny driving away as we pulled up," he says, kneeling down and lifting Ava into his arms. "How were they?"

"She said they were good. And that she might be getting the handle of taking care of both kids at the same time."

"She has to tell us her secrets."

She laughs quietly. "I told her the same thing."

Grant leans forward and presses a kiss to Ava's forehead and then Adian's. He takes a deep breath. "So, should we introduce them now?"

Skye nods. "I think so." She waits for Grant to stand up and then holds a hand out for him to help her up as well.

They both turn toward Rose and take a few steps toward the older woman.

"Rose," Grant speaks up, "I'd like for you to meet your nephew Adian Leo, and your niece Ava Rose. Both six months old and very relatively happy for babies. They can be a bit of a handful sometimes but we love them anyway."

Rose smiles at the two babies, reaching out to run a hand over Adian's head. "They're beautiful, Grant. My goodness. If only...wait, did you say her name is Ava Rose?"

Grant nods, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Yeah. Even if I hadn't seen you in years, I still love you, Rosie. I wanted my daughter to have a part of you with her."

She smiles softly. "I'm touched. Can I hold one of them?" she asks. "I don't care which one, I just want to hold one."

"Here, take Adian," Skye says, transferring the boy to his aunt. "He's a bit more docile than Ava. She also gets super whiny if someone takes her from her dad and it's not me."

"Bit of a daddy's girl, then, I see," Rose says with an amused smile. "Mom and dad would turn over in their graves right now if they could see you."

Grant's face pales. "Rose, I…"

"Hey, it's okay," she says softly. "I saw the news report and I had a feeling of what might have happened considering everything that Christian said about you in the news not long before that. I'm not mad, not really. They were horrible parents. It's probably a good thing they aren't here to try and corrupt these cuties, too." She smiles and laughs when Adian makes a grab for her nose.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So how exactly did you two meet?" Rose asks them.

"That is definitely an interesting story," Skye says with a small smile, moving to sit down on the couch. Grant instinctively sits next to her and Rose takes up the couch across from them.

"Well, I've got plenty of time to hear it."

Skye takes a deep breath, leaning into Grant's side. "Well, I guess it's not really a secret that Grant was a part of SHIELD," she says to her sister-in-law. "I mean, technically he was only in it because of Hydra, but even then he never believed their ideals. He was only doing it to help someone he cared about."

Rose gives a small hint of a smile. "I knew Christian had to be lying when I saw that on the news. You've always wanted to help people, Grant. I think that's why Christian tormented you so much, because you were always trying to protect me and Thomas."

Grant nods. "Yeah, maybe."

"Anyways," Skye continues, her hand coming to rest on her husband's leg, "Grant and I actually met through SHIELD. He and our former boss kidnapped me from my van—"

"Brought you in."

"Babe, you threw a black bag over my hand and handcuffed me to a table. You kidnapped me."

He sighs, turning Ava around in his lap to face the others when she starts fussing. "Okay, fine. We kidnapped you."

"Thank you. So, they kidnapped me, I helped them out on a mission, they asked me to stay on. Grant and I started getting close, but then everything kinda fell apart…"

"That whole Hydra mess, right?" Rose asks.

Skye nods. "Yeah. Eventually, we got past it, realized it was all just a big misunderstanding and things taken out of context and full stories not being told."

"I escaped before we came to that understanding, though," he explains. "They were going to send me to Christian and I couldn't let that happen."

Rose scoffs. "I don't blame you."

"I was on the run for a little while after that, where a lot of crazy stuff happened, like traveling to an alien planet and dying there."

Rose's eyes go wide. "Wait. You died?!"

He nods. "Yeah. But not for very long. Because then I came back because of this really old alien thing that took over my body. But then I died again."

"You've died twice? What the hell, Grant?"

"I know, it sounds kind of crazy. Believe me, I know how it sounds and I'm the one who lived through it. I don't know how or why I came back the second time, though. But not too long after I came back, I found out that I could do this."

He snaps his fingers and gives a tiny hint of a smile when a small flame dance at the end of his finger.

"I just figured out how to do that. The twins love it."

"Wow. That's incredible. And you have no idea how you got these powers?"

He shakes his head, waving the flame in front of Ava's face, causing the little girl to squeal. "No, I don't. I have a couple of friends still at SHIELD who have tried to figure it out, but they don't know why or how it happened either."

Rose's brows furrow in confusion. "You still have friends there?"

He nods. "Yeah. They're not bad people, I promise. They actually came out here when the twins were born, and for our wedding too. They're the only people we still talk to from SHIELD. Everyone else we've pretty much cut out of our lives."

"For good reason too," Skye says. "Honestly, with my part in everything, you should have stayed away from me too." She frowns deeply.

He covers her hand with his, squeezing lightly. "Hey, you know I'm long past all of that. I'm not holding it against you. You were in a bad place because of me."

"It still doesn't excuse any of it."

"Maybe not. But I don't care about that because you were there for me when I really needed it."

She smiles softly. "Yeah, I was."

Soft whimpering from Ava pulls the couples' attention away from each other and to the infant in Grant's arms.

"¿Qué pasa, Ava?" Grant asks the little girl, bouncing her gently in his lap. "What's got you all grumpy, sweetie?"

"I think she just missed you and wants all your attention," Skye says with a smile, stroking a hand over her daughter's head. "Isn't that right, Ava-loo?"

"You speak Spanish?" Rose asks curiously, adjusting her hold on Adian when he starts squirming.

Grant looks up at her and nods. "Yeah. A few other languages as well, but I like speaking to the twins in Spanish."

"Well, maybe you can help Matthew out sometime. He's taking Spanish class right now but is really struggling."

Grant gives her a small smile. "I'd really like that." He shifts in his seat a little. "This isn't just a one-time thing is it?" he asks his sister. "You're not just going to leave again?"

She shakes her head. "Absolutely not. For a long time, I thought about what I could have done differently when I left, if I should have taken you and Thomas with me to try and give you a better life. But that's all in the past now. What matters is that we've found each other again and there's no way in hell I'm leaving you again. You're stuck with me, Grant."

He smiles softly at his older sister. "I think I can learn to live with that."

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 **So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

 **Now we've met Grant's older sister, well, my version of her, at least. And yes, she will be appearing more throughout this universe.**

 **Also, if anyone wants their twitter handle/Tumblr URL featured in an upcoming Skyeward story, let me know. :)**

 **Until next time,  
Jellybean96 out!**


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